Breaking: Israeli bulldozer, soldiers destroy entire community of Beit Arabiya in West Bank, Philip Weiss
Tne tragic night in the West Bank. Israeli soldiers accompanied a bullodozer as it destroyed all the buildings in the Bedouin community of Beit Arabiya, northeast of Jerusalem in the West Bank. “People are somber, traumatized, and griefstricken,” says Itay Epshtain of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions. (ICAHD). “Nearly 100 people are out in the elements now on a cold night. Children, babies, mothers, fathers. Some of us from ICAHD did try to block the bulldozer, but we were beaten back by soldiers.” The community was first hit with a demolition order in 1994, but it has been regularly targeted by the occupation forces in recent years since ICAHD set up a facility there in an effort to protect the people. The Bedouin community is in Area C, which comprises 60 percent of the West Bank. Epshtain says the demolition was launched at 11:30 p.m. tonight and is part of a government policy of ethnic expulsion in Area C, aimed at forcing Bedouins into the largely-urban areas of Area A, where they will be under Palestinian Authority control. We will keep you posted on the fate of the people of Beit Arabiya, who are in our thoughts and prayers tonight. http://mondoweiss.net/2012/01/breaking-israeli-bulldozer-soldiers-destroy-entire-community-of-beit-arabiya-in-west-bank.html

Israel demolishes 10 buildings near Jericho
JERICHO (Ma’an) — Israeli forces demolished ten buildings in the Jordan Valley village al-Auja on Monday, residents told Ma’an. The soldiers leveled new shops being constructed at the village’s northern entrance, belonging to residents Diab Abdul Hamid, Nujom and Yasser Abdul Rahman, Muhammad Abdul Rahman and Fesal Hussein. The owners told Ma’an the demolitions inflicted a serious loss on the Jericho-district village. The UN agency for Palestinian refugees noted in a December report that demolitions across the West Bank doubled in 2011, displacing 990 people — including 507 children.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=454923

Forces demolish home in Jerusalem village
JERUSALEM (Ma’an) — Israeli forces demolished a Palestinian home in East Jerusalem village Anata early Tuesday, the owner told Ma’an. Ahmad Omar said troops and bulldozers surrounded his house in the al-Fheidat neighborhood at dawn, and summoned his relatives to empty the house contents.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=454981

Israel confiscates 350 acres in occupied Jerusalem in just three weeks
The Israeli occupation authorities have confiscated 350 acres of land in the occupied city of Jerusalem and the surrounding area in the past three weeks. Details of the land grab have been given in a report prepared by the Department of International Relations at the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO), which described the illegal settlement operations in East Jerusalem as a “war crime” and “state terrorism”. The ongoing theft of Palestinian land is, claims the PLO, “undertaken by the right-wing extremist government in Israel for the purpose of the Judaisation of the city and its annexation, so as to make the implementation of any political solution possible.”
http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/news/middle-east/3307-israel-confiscates-350-acres-in-occupied-jerusalem-in-just-three-weeks

Israel High Court bars Palestinian from studying abroad over nonexistent evidence
Lawyer says High Court apparently mixed up two similar cases when it barred a Palestinian man from pursuing studies in Germany – and is refusing to acknowledge the error.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/israel-high-court-bars-palestinian-from-studying-abroad-over-nonexistent-evidence-1.408863?localLinksEnabled=false

Violent attacks on peaceful marches in W. Bank continue
The weekly anti-wall march of Bil’in village was attacked yesterday with tear gas grenades and chemical waste. (RAMALLAH PIC) – The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) continued, in blatant violation of human rights, their violent attacks on peaceful weekly marches organized in West Bank villages against settlement activities and the segregation wall. Two Palestinian young men and one paramedic were wounded on Friday when Israeli forces fired a barrage of rubber bullets and tear gas grenades at the anti-wall march in Nabi Saleh village and many others suffered suffocation. In Kafr Qaddum village east of Qalqiliya, violent clashes broke out between the participants in the weekly march and Israeli soldiers stationed at the main gate of the village, which has been closed for years. The soldiers started to fire tear gas grenades as hundreds of Palestinian villagers and foreign activists were marching towards the closed gate. The weekly anti-wall march of Bil’in village, west of Ramallah city, was also attacked yesterday with tear gas grenades and water mixed with chemical waste. The IOF also quelled the marches organized in Kafr Addik village, west of Salfit, and Masarah village near Bethlehem. Three protestors during the Masarah protest sustained injuries when they were physically assaulted by Israeli soldiers.http://www.salem-news.com/articles/january222012/israeli-attacks.php

Israeli troops ‘raid east Salfit village’
SALFIT (Ma’an) — Israeli forces raided the Kifl Hares village east of Salfit and closed the entrances of the village, searching cars and checking identity cards, witnesses said. Omar al-Shater said he was stopped by Israeli soldiers in army jeeps. They searched his car and checked his identity, he said, alleging they were attacked by a Molotov cocktail.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=455013

Israeli judge to visit military checkpoint in Silwan
A group of Israeli judges organized a visit to an Israeli Military Checkpoint at 10:00 am Sunday to assess whether its presence is necessary. The judges will be accompanied by the lawyer Muhammad Mahmoud who has taken on the case on behalf of local residents who would like the checkpoint removed due to the obstacles it presents. The checkpoint has been positioned on the roof of a Palestinian home for more than a year. The checkpoint is manned for 24 hours and has proven to escalate confrontations and has caused the arrest of a large number of young people.

Several Residents Injured In Air Strikes Targeting Gaza
Palestinian medical sources reported that several Palestinians were wounded, on Tuesday at dawn, after the Israeli Air Force bombarded a number of areas in the Gaza Strip. The sources stated that the wounded residents suffered mild injuries; damage was reported. Also, two fighters were wounded when the Israeli Air Force bombarded two areas, believed to be training centers for resistance fighters, in Jabalia and Beit Lahia, in the northern part of the Gaza Strip. Furthermore, an Israeli military spokesperson stated that the Israeli Air Force bombarded tunnels, and resistance fighters, in the Gaza Strip.

Man Dies Of Wounds Sustained In 2002
Palestinian medical sources reported on Thursday that resident Hamid Ahmad Sahloul, 42, from the western refugee camp in Khan Younis, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, died of wounds sustained in an Israeli incursion in 2002.
http://www.imemc.org/article/62893

Jewish Settlers Break into Joseph’s Tomb in Nablus
NABLUS, January 24, 2012 (WAFA) – A large number of Jewish settlers broke into Joseph’s Tomb, east of the northern West Bank city of Nablus, late Monday night, according to local sources. They told WAFA that around 10 buses carrying 1200 extremist settlers broke into the Tomb and performed rituals and prayers until dawn under the heavy protection of the Israeli army. Sources in the Israeli army said the breaking was coordinated between the army and the settlers. Meanwhile, Israeli forces raided the eastern area of Nablus, particularly the vicinity of Balata refugee camp, as well as broke into a bookshop near An-Najah National University campus in the city, and confiscated contents.

http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=18789

Political Detainees

Israeli Soldiers Arrest Palestinian Teacher Near Ramallah
RAMALLAH, January 24, 2012 (WAFA) – Israeli soldiers arrested a Palestinian teacher from Aurora, a village near Ramallah, according to a statement released by Mandela Human Rights Group on Tuesday. It said Israeli forces raided and ransacked the house of Nermin Saleh and took over her personal computer, along with mobile phones. Saleh was handcuffed and blindfolded before she was taken to the Russian compound detention center in West Jerusalem, added the statement.

http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=18797

Residents Detained in Hebron
On Tuesday Morning, the Israeli army kidnapped two Hebron residents near Ibrahim Mosque, and moved them to undisclosed location, the Palestinian news agency, Ma’an, reported.

http://www.imemc.org/article/62895

Israel arrests another Hamas lawmaker in West Bank (AP)
AP – Israeli troops detained a Hamas legislator in the West Bank early Tuesday in the fifth such arrest in as many days, the Islamic militant group said.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120124/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_palestinians

Dr. Dweik Receives Six Months Administrative Detention
The Israeli Military Court at the Ofer Israeli prison, near the central West Bank city of Ramallah, decided to imprison the elected head of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), Dr. Aziz Dweik, to six months administrative detention.
http://www.imemc.org/article/62894

Red Cross urged to uncover fate of Palestinian detainee
The prisoners’ center for studies appealed to the Red Cross to work on uncovering the fate of a Palestinian prisoner from Jenin who has been barred from seeing his family for about seven months.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7Qg1elhXD5%2bplA9eHKqMXeXbrb%2fPcEh8UyONOwU2eeEts7FrLswJWky%2b9W5a4kjoAbN7Bu4IoPqivpaOcUQlDWqLvQY02NO8pXUIzwgItavw%3d

Arrest and Detention of Children
IOF troops arrest two Palestinian boys
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) detained two Palestinian minors on Monday in the Yatta village of Al-Khalil, local sources said.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7%2fLD7Doz0EsyTYy4rslu%2fpJ0xnVn6hmahZ16%2fL9MCWzqmx86p3k9nl1gyN6QIcCTYwvqTuK%2fULz0XFvRH1xNsQSsv5pOL7pY5yUDo6xZJwjc%3d

A youth arrested in Al Abbasyah at dawn
At dawn on Monday, Israeli forces arrested Yahya Sirhan, 19, in the neighborhood of Al Abbasyah. His detention was extended until Tuesday morning when there will be a hearing. One of the detainee’s relatives said that all of the charges involved throwing Molotov cocktails at the Israeli troops.http://silwanic.net/?p=24273

Half a dollar a day: The life of a Gaza tunnel-digger
Did you know Gaza Strip has a Ministry of Tunnels? It’s an important ministry too, as tunnels are a lifeline bringing food and consumer goods to Palestinians. Without them, it’s doubtful that people here would survive the Israeli blockade. Tunnellers toiling in arduous conditions are happy workers – they earn a staggering $10 a day. Their cheerfulness persists despite having to do back-breaking work, under the ground, with no chance to stand up straight, without fresh air, constantly running the risk of being crushed in a collapse or dying of suffocation. The tunnels are bombed during air raids, so their entrances are disguised. The sand from the pit is removed under tents to keep the place inconspicuous. Until last year, almost all food and other items, except for limited supplies from the UN, were delivered via underground passages.http://rt.com/news/gaza-tunnel-digger-life-609/

In Palestine, to exist is to resist
Behind the headlines, Palestinians are using nonviolent direct action to protest the status quo. WEST BANK, PALESTINE – On November 15, Mazin Qumsiyeh and other Palestinian activists boarded public bus number 148, an Israelis-only bus that normally takes Jews from the Israeli West Bank settlement of Ariel to Jerusalem. The bus took the group to the Hizma checkpoint, just outside the northern entrance of Jerusalem, where activists resisted authorities’ efforts to remove them. Eventually, as a camera broadcast the action online, eight people were pulled from the bus and arrested. They were charged with “illegal entry to Jerusalem” and “obstructing police business.”
http://palsolidarity.org/2012/01/in-palestine-to-exist-is-to-resist/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+palsolidarity+%28International+Solidarity+Movement%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

Activists call on Globe Theatre to cancel performance
Responding to Palestinian civil society’s call for boycott, divestment, and sanctions against Israel, the Israeli group Boycott from Within has issued an open letter to Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre asking it to cancel the May 2012 performance by thespians from Israel’s Habima theatre.
http://www.alternativenews.org/english/index.php/component/content/article/28-news/4085-activists-call-on-globe-theatre-to-cancel-performance

New Sabra hummus ad uses images of Arabs, Africans to cover up Israel army connection, Ali Abunimah
The Strauss Group, the company that openly supports the Israeli army and makes Sabra brand hummus, is trying a new advertising strategy to hide its Israeli connections and combat a growing boycott movement. It is to depict Arabs and Muslims in its ads as a form of cover. Should we call this “Arabwashing?”
http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/new-sabra-hummus-ad-uses-images-arabs-africans-cover-israel-army-connection

US: New UN council no more favorable to Palestinians
NEW YORK (Reuters) — Security Council dynamics are no more favorable now to a Palestinian UN membership bid than they were last year despite a partial change in the council makeup, the US ambassador to the United Nations said on Monday.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=454905

Abbas: Israel document ‘worthless’ to talks
MOSCOW (Ma’an) — President Mahmoud Abbas said Sunday that Israel’s response to a Palestinian proposal on borders and security as requested by Quartet negotiators was “worthless”. Speaking to TV channel Russia Today during his the final leg of his European tour, Abbas said his visit to British, German and Russian leaders was not intended to “isolate or delegitimize Israel,” but to look at different routes if current talks between negotiators fail.http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=454455

Pro-Israel billionaire boosts Gingrich ‘Super PAC’
WASHINGTON (Reuters) — Newt Gingrich’s supporters are celebrating his stunning win in South Carolina, but Mitt Romney has a big jump in the next battleground state thanks to millions of dollars his backers have already poured into the Florida contest for the Republican presidential nomination. Restore Our Future has spent $5 million in Florida for Romney since mid-December. That was when the political action committee launched get-out-the-vote efforts aimed at hundreds of thousands who have sought to vote by mail or at early-voting centers well before primary on Jan. 31.http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=454617

Hashemi: If Maliki Resigns He Will Go To Baghdad Court
Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi has offered to return to Baghdad to appear before a judiciary there, but only if Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki resigns his post first. Meanwhile, at least 10 Iraqis were killed and 15 more were wounded in new attacks.

Saudi Arabia: the Middle East’s most under-reported conflict
Shia protesters, demanding long overdue and promised reforms, are bearing the brunt of a security crackdown. As the British prime minister, David Cameron, visited Riyadh in mid-January, wooing Saudi business and strengthening bilateral relations, a young Shia man in the eastern province was shot dead. Following the kingdom’s huge arms deal with the United States, Cameron apparently wanted to persuade the Saudis to buy Typhoon Eurofighters. His visit was a slap in the face for protesters, who are demanding human rights and more of a say in their country’s affairs.http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jan/23/saudi-arabia-shia-protesters

Syria attacks Arab League over ‘conspiracy’
Foreign minister says league is implementing a foreign conspiracy, as Gulf states withdraw from observer mission.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/01/201212493527272847.html

Officials: Car bombs kill 14 across Baghdad (AP)
AP – A wave of car bombings hit the Iraq capital on Tuesday, killing 14 people and wounding more than 70 as violence surges in the country amid an escalating political crisis a month after the U.S. military withdrawal.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iraq/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120124/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iraq

Iraq’s execution of 34 people in one day ‘shocking’ – UN human rights chief
The United Nations human rights chief said today she was shocked at reports that 34 people were executed in Iraq in a single day last week and called on the country to institute an immediate moratorium on the use of the death penalty. “Even if the most scrupulous fair trial standards were observed, this would be a terrifying number of executions to take place in a single day,” High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay stated in a news release.
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=41019&Cr=Iraq&Cr1=

US shifts embassy staff amid Bahrain unrest (AP)
AP – The U.S. State Department says it is moving American Embassy employees to safer locations in Bahrain after ongoing political unrest elevated security worries in the strategic Gulf kingdom.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120124/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_bahrain

U.S. flouts law at Guantanamo, despite Obama vow: U.N.
GENEVA (Reuters) – The United States is still flouting international law at Guantanamo Bay, despite President Barack Obama’s election pledge to shut the facility, the United Nations human rights chief Navi Pillay said on Monday. “It is ten years since the U.S. Government opened the prison at Guantanamo, and now three years since 22 January 2009, when the President ordered its closure within twelve months. Yet the facility continues to exist and individuals remain arbitrarily detained – indefinitely – in clear breach of international law,” Pillay said in a statement.

U.S. sanctions another big Iranian bank
The Treasury Department today designated Iran’s third-largest bank, Bank Tejarat, as subject to new sanctions, on the same day the EU announced a complete oil embargo of Iran. “At a time when banks around the world are cutting off Iran and its currency is depreciating rapidly, today’s action against Bank Tejarat strikes at one of Iran’s few remaining access points to the international financial system,” Treasury Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David Cohen said in a statement. “Today’s sanction against Bank Tejarat will deepen Iran’s financial isolation, make its access to hard currency even more tenuous, and further impair Iran’s ability to finance its illicit nuclear program.” http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/01/23/us_sanctions_another_big_iranian_bank

Suppressing Press TV is deplorable – Ofcom should restore its licence now
Ofcom is banning the station on spurious grounds, and this move will only serve to increase anti-western sentiment in Iran. Ofcom, which regulates broadcasting media in the UK, has revoked the licence of Press TV, whose UK operation is based at studios in west London but whose editorial control is – so Ofcom argued – located in Tehran. Ofcom had given Press TV a choice: either move editorial control to London or transfer its UK broadcasting licence to Iran. Press TV apparently ignored this ultimatum. So now it is off the air.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jan/24/suppressing-press-tv-ofcom-licence

Adelson Doubling Down on Gingrich, Richard Silverstein
Sheldon Adelson is doubling-down on his fair-haired white boy, Newt Gingrich, with a second $5-million Super PAC gift given through his wife, Miriam. If God forbid, Newtie wins the nomination I’d bet we can expect gifts in the $50-100 million range from Big Shel. This gift, and the NY Times article to which I linked, make clear that Newt is largely a creature of Adelson’s money. Without it, Romney would already be the Republican nominee.
http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/2012/01/24/adelson-doubling-down-on-gingrich/

War Beckons at the Request of Israel, Iqbal Jassat – Pretoria, South Africa
As the first month of 2012 ebbs away, a question dominating many conversations is whether war is still likely to break out in the Persian Gulf anytime soon. While tensions have been heating up as “war talk” between regional players adds greater anxiety, it remains unclear whether the Obama administration is willing to risk more American lives in pursuit of an Israeli agenda. Unlike former president George W Bush who seemed hell bent to settle personal scores with Saddam Hussein and was immensely assisted by a largely pliant media to “sell” America’s war on Iraq, Obama is not too certain of gaining similar levels of support.http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=17724

Hussein Ibish And The Language Of Anti-Arab Racism
Hussein Ibish, the Senior Fellow at the American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP), the Washington public relations outfit for the collaborationist Palestinian Authority (PA) in occupied Ramallah, continues to speak in the most disrespectful, condescending, and sometimes racist fashion when it comes to Arabs and Muslims especially those among them opposed to US criminal wars abroad and insist on combating and defeating the Zionist colonial project in Palestine. The language of the intellectual godfather of the establishment Arabs has grown increasingly abrasive and crude as he moves further and further to the political right and continues to adjust his unreasonably reasonable stance on Palestine to the demands of the most extreme elements of the Pro-Israel lobby.http://ikhras.com/2012/01/hussein-ibish-and-the-language-of-anti-arab-racism/

The Hypocrisy of Mark Leibler: Indigenous Rights Advocate Denies Indigenous Rights to Palestinians
“Australian Jew working to end discrimination against indigenous peoples,” reads a proud headline from the Jewish Telegraph Agency (JTA) today, January 22, 2012. The article reports that a “high-profile Jewish Australian cited the effects of the Holocaust on his family as a driving force in his work to help ‘end the exclusion’ of Australia’s Indigenous peoples from the nation’s constitution”
http://www.wideasleepinamerica.com/2012/01/hypocrisy-of-mark-leibler-indigenous.html

4 Responses

this feels like rage over being told no on iran, and being set up to take the blame for anything that would happen (false flag). but could it be an attempt to provoke a reaction from the new egyptian government?

It’s more likely to be an attempt to further provoke the Palestinian side in the moribund “negotiations” currently taking place in Jordan. See it in the context of Hamas-affiliated Palestinian members of Parliament being arrested, Abbas’ VIP status being reduced etc.
Heap insults and injuries on the Palestinians while allegedly “negotiating” with them, then when they decide they can’t take it anymore and quit, you can point fingers at them. That’s Israel’s game.

“The U.S. government should become the protector of the Palestinian people’s right to have a decent amount of land. The desire of some Israelis to use security as an excuse to grab more Palestinian land should be blocked by Washington even if that requires employing financial or other leverage to compel the Israeli government to behave reasonably on the issue of settlements. It is vital to our credibility in the entire Middle East that we insist on an end to Israeli expansionism. It is vital to our humanitarian duty to the Palestinian people that we protect the weaker party from the stronger power. It is vital that the world sees that our total support for Israeli security is not matched by a one-sided support for more extreme Israeli territorial demands.” — Newt Gingrich, 2005

UN bid looms – steal more land.
Nomination process in US, attention to Israeli crime unlikely – steal more land.
Hostility to Iran ramped up, world media attention distracted – steal more land, destroy more Palestinian homes.
At this rate, the Israeli rapist will end up married to the Palestinian victim because the world won’t accept a bunch of bantustans or outright ethnic cleansing that expels them. And hopefully not one that leaves ethnosupremacism for one group in its laws when they’re half the population.

Mondoweiss in Your Inbox

Get Mondoweiss delivered directly to your inbox every morning and stay up to date with our independent coverage of events in the Middle East!

Support Mondoweiss’s independent journalism today

Mondoweiss brings you the news that no one else will. Your tax-deductible donation enables us to deliver information, analysis and voices stifled elsewhere. Please give now to maintain and grow this unique resource.